Help

ks rose · Nov 25, 2007, 02:56 PM

I have a white Germen Shepard..
I rescued her about a year ago from a breeder that is all he did with her.. poor little thing she is 3 years old and from previous owners has had 3 liters of puppy already. I have not bread her and don't plane on too for a long time...
But her is my problem...
She is almost 4 years old she eats good I put food out for her every time the bowl is empty I don't let it get empty..
I also notice she is a very scared dog but we moved in July and our house has over an acker lot which she runs and runs. I have taken her to the vet and he says she is fine but see she is a large dog according to her bread she should be 70 or more pounds but she is only 59 lbs and she looks too skinny her ribs are poking out and she has her hips sunken in... I also had her dewormed too so it is not...
I am concerned I will lose but but she is very active but not sickly at all. I feed her ims dog food as she is a picky eater this was the only dog food I could get her to eat I went through almost all kinds of dog food to find the one she would eat and she been eating this one for 5 months now...
Anyway suggestions what else I can try to make her where she needs to be...
I don't let her out all day no more cause I am thinking part of her problem is she is burning up too many calories I don't know I am not the dog expert just love my dog and want to do what is right for her...
Thanks Ks Rose

emzeena · Nov 25, 2007, 03:03 PM

Hi there, we used to own a german shepard cross with a grey hound who we rescued. When we got her from the rspca she was in a right state and was so thin she looked like she was about to die. She did gain some weight, but was always very thin and never got big enough to hide her ribs. You may find that because of her life before you owned her means her body has given up and can no help her enough to gain a lot of weight. I don't think feeding her constantly is the right solution as you probably find that gives her bowel problems. You shouldn't keep her inside all day either, as this is going to reinforce the body being a bit crap. If she gets some exercise she should be able to build up her immune system a bit and it may even help her to put on weight. She may also be depressed as she has lived through hard work with so many litters already. Just make sure you give her lots of love, excerise and keep her healthy. If you do all this and she doesn't gain any weight don't worry too much, she will still live a happy life

labman · Nov 25, 2007, 03:10 PM

Listen to your vet. It is quite common for German Shepherds to refuse to eat enough to completely hide their ribs. Accept it, she will live longer than overfed dogs. Read through https://www.askmehelpdesk.com/dogs/b...ghlight=Saluki
If she hasn't been spayed, she may use up less nervous energy if you do so.

I want to thank you for rescuing her. There are so many great dogs out there needing homes. Please come back if you need any other help.

Added note. I asked to have this move to dogs. That is part of the purpose of the Report inappropriate post link at the top of every thread.

ks rose · Nov 25, 2007, 03:46 PM

I appreiate your comments.. I do let her out as much as I can as I am told she could be losing so much weight from running so much, I really think she just so excited about not being a in 10 x10 cage as she was for the first 3 years of her life... but she is healthy and she eats when she wants, but I feel the bowl up 2 x daily so I know I made that sound like I am over feeding her really I am not just want to do what is right for her.. I would like to breed her 1 time so I can have her puppy but then I want to get her fixed after that cause I know she been through a hard life but I will keep that in mind that she is a scared doggy it took me 3 months to get her to accept us as her new owners and it took me 4 months to get her to go up and downs stairs she was never been socialized. I have been taking her to the stables with me so she can see other people and other animals too. But she is doing better I am working her slow on that for I don't want to put too much on her for she been through enough I just want to love her...

labman · Nov 25, 2007, 04:36 PM

Just One Litter

froggy7 · Nov 25, 2007, 05:35 PM

Another thing to consider is that the white coat in a GSD is a double recessive gene. Both parents have to have it in order for the puppies to be white. And white is disqualified in the AKC show ring, so the set of white GSDs is small. And since it sounds like this dog was used by a puppy mill, probably doing a lot of line-breeding (parent-child or brother-sister crosses), you probably do not have a really good set of genes in your dog. So the likelihood that your puppies would have problems is higher than it might otherwise be.